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*** UPDATED x2 *** Compare and contrast the two sets of proposals

Monday, Nov 16, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE 1 *** From a Republican member of the working group…

“These represent items that a bipartisan, bicameral group of independent legislators said ‘Here are some things to get the conversation started.’”

So, just to be clear, not everybody in the working group agrees with all of these things, and as I told subscribers weeks ago, the governor and some Republicans wanted more reforms before agreeing to any new revenues.

*** UPDATE 2 *** OK, so from what I’m told, the Democrats presented the Republicans with these items, but they were rejected by the governor and the GOP as being “not enough reform” for the amount of revenue involved.

[ *** End Of Updates *** ]

* As I told you in the previous post, the IllinoisGO “mega deal” list looked very similar to me as the proposals from a bipartisan group of legislators which ended up going nowhere when the governor turned thumbs down. Here is that list…

Spending and budget reforms

1. $36B FY16 spending level – below the General Assembly budget passed in May – with reductions in group health, transfers & discretionary spending this year and over $900m additional operational reductions in FY17
2. Pay off bill backlog over 5 years
3. Make full pension payments
4. Ensure childcare, community care and other social service programs are funded
5. Provide stability and certainty for at least 5 years
6. Enact an emergency reserve fund
7. Eliminate future rolling of bills

Revenue

1. Pass a revenue plan that provides $3B in FY16 and grows to $5B
2. Broaden sales tax base to cover services similar to Wisconsin
3. Tax retirement income over $50,000
4. Increase personal income tax rate to 4.5%
5. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) 50%
6. Raise corporate income tax rate to 6.75%
7. Eliminate 3 corp. tax credits (domestic production, noncombination rule and offshore drilling) & make R&D credit permanent
8. Eliminate corp. franchise tax and lower LLC fees
9. Recouple inheritance tax with the federal government
10. Repeal E-10 subsidy (ethanol)

Capital Plan

1. Develop a capital program to fund much needed water, sewer, road, public transit, school and other public infrastructure needs.
2. Create a vehicle miles travelled pilot
3. Apply any road portion to local roads as well as state roads w/criteria for accessing state dollars

Substantive Reforms

Local control

1. Allow (but not require) all school districts to bargain over 3rd party contracting, layoffs, class size, school year & technology (like CPS)
2. Enable school districts to enter into 3rd party contracts
3. Modify arbitration selection process
4. Make contracts subject to appropriation
5. Enable a “reset” for healthcare & prohibit employers from awarding plans that would impose the “Cadillac tax”
6. Broaden local preference for Project Labor Agreements and ensure PLAs apply to construction only (not maintenance) projects
7. Set $150,000 threshold for prevailing wage (PW), enabling diversity in participation, and clarify homes in TIF districts are not subject to PW
8. Allow municipalities to form health care co-ops
9. Create disincentive for schools to pickup employee share of pension costs

Property tax freeze/education funding reform

1. Enact a 2 year property tax freeze excluding public safety
2. Establish pension parity for CPS w/sunset & alter CPS pension ramp
3. Sunset General State Aid formula 6/1/17 and create a stakeholder committee to propose new formula by 12/31/16 and identify needed $ to prevent any district from losing.

Business/regulatory reforms

1. Implement substantive Workers compensation reforms
2. Modify Unemployment insurance to alter the def’n of misconduct, eliminate the social security offset, & extend “speed bumps”
3. Raise the minimum wage to $11 over time (Lightford bill)
4. Mandate reporting from contractors on minority workforce participation

Pension reform

1. Establish a tier 3 cash balance plan
2. Fix Tier 2 to link salary cap to social security wage base
3. Address pension spiking
4. Modify police and fire pension ramp schedules

Keep in mind that this was a bipartisan working group. Some Democrats are obviously willing to go much further with labor union-related reforms than House Speaker Michael Madigan will admit.

40 Comments

*** UPDATED x3 - It’s a pause, not a shut-off *** Rauner: State to suspend accepting new Syrian refugees

Monday, Nov 16, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov. Bruce Rauner…

“Our nation and our state have a shared history of providing safe haven for those displaced by conflict, but the news surrounding the Paris terror attacks reminds us of the all-too-real security threats facing America. We must find a way to balance our tradition as a state welcoming of refugees while ensuring the safety and security of our citizens. Therefore, the state of Illinois will temporarily suspend accepting new Syrian refugees and consider all of our legal options pending a full review of our country’s acceptance and security processes by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”

On the one hand, I can see the worry about terrorists slipping in with the refugees.

On the other hand, however, those refugees are leaving Syria to flee those very same terrorists.

Ugh.

…Adding… We’re not talking big numbers. From September…

So far in 2015, 94 refugees from Syria have been resettled in Illinois, 62 of them in Chicago, according to data from the Refugee Processing Center, operated by the U.S. State Department. That’s about three times the placements in all of last year, with 24 Syrian refugees resettled in Illinois, 18 of which were in Chicago. Those numbers, though, don’t include Syrians seeking asylum, a separate process.

…Adding More… According to CBS, other Republican governors have done the same, including in Indiana, Michigan and Alabama.

…Adding Still More… A state by state look is here.

*** UPDATE 1 *** I just had a long conversation with someone in the administration. I think people on both sides should probably stand down. The key word here is “temporarily.” They just want to pause this while they get some more assurances from the federal government about who is being brought in, what their backgrounds really are, etc.

Also, they’re very sensitive to the fact that some of these refugees are Christians fleeing radical Islamic tyranny - which some of the far right commenters here and elsewhere should probably try to consider.

Again, it’s a pause, not a full stop.

…Adding… TPM…

To be clear, states still retain the power to deny their own resources to the federal government, so they could potentially make settlement of refugees more difficult than it would be if the states cooperated. Nevertheless, an act of Congress — the Refugee Act of 1980 — has given Obama broad discretion to allow refugees to be admitted into the United States.

And that’s what we’re looking at here - state IDHS resources.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Sen. Mark Kirk vs. Congressman Tammy Duckworth in Crain’s…

“The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and FBI Director James Comey have cautioned that terrorist infiltration of Syrian refugees is possible based on our limited ability (to) screen all Syrian refugees,” Kirk said in a statement. “No refugee related to the Syrian crisis should be admitted to the United States unless the (Obama) administration can guarantee, with 100 percent assurance, that they are not members, supporters or sympathizers of ISIS.” […]

“We should differentiate between the refugee crisis and those who do the work of ISIS,” [Duckworth] told reporters, noting that her northwest suburban district now is home to 700 refugees. U.S. security personnel know what they are doing, she continued, noting that 20 percent of them are children. “If we don’t deal with the refugee crisis, some of those kids will grow up to be terrorists,” she said.

Duckworth said she “could not imagine” taking her infant daughter, Abigail, packing up their things, and walking across the country to a dingy in the ocean “because that’s safer” than staying home.

“We are better than that as a nation,” she said, noting that she’s supported a plan to allow up to 200,000 to come to America. “We should keep the refugees.”

*** UPDATE 3 *** US Senate candidate Andrea Zopp…

“I believe that this is a humanitarian crisis, and we can’t turn our back on our values. With over a decade of experience in law enforcement, I know better than most that we need to do the proper background checks, but banning Syrian refugees from Illinois makes no sense. This is another example of Governor Rauner ignoring those in need.”

124 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Richly ironic *** CMS sues AG Madigan over workers’ comp for personal assistants

Monday, Nov 16, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** Take a look at the newly highlighted text below. A bone of contention in this suit is a workers’ comp claim filed by Stephanie Yencer-Price. Ms. Yencer-Price was one of the plaintiffs in the landmark Harris v. Quinn case.

Yep, she didn’t want to pay union dues, but now the union is fighting for her right to file a workers’ comp claim.

Seems fair. /snark

* Also, an attorney for the workers just called and asked a valid question: If the state isn’t on the hook for these workers comp claims, then who is? The folks who qualify for these attendants are generally poor and disabled. It’s not like they can pay the claim.

So, what happens when an attendant is injured and can no longer work?

It’s the emergency room and welfare, apparently.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Illinois Policy Institute…

[On November 13th] the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) filed a lawsuit against Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan alleging she is refusing to discharge her duty to properly defend the state against certain workers compensation claims.

The complaint, styled Tyrell v. Madigan, is linked here. The lawsuit was brought in the name of Tom Tyrell in his capacity as Director of CMS. It pertains to home care workers called “personal assistants.” […]

The central assertion is that Madigan is refusing to put up an obvious and easily supported defense on behalf of taxpayers — that personal assistants are not employees of the state. CMS recites, in the complaint, a list of reasons to support its position, including the recent United States Supreme Court Decision in Harris v. Quinn. That decision, as CMS describes in the complaint, held that personal assistants are private sector employees for all purposes except collective bargaining over wages.

“In addition to refusing to perform her personal, professional and constitutional duties in accordance with law,” the complaint says, Madigan has refused requests by CMS for appointment of a special assistant attorney general to properly defend the claims.

The lawsuit asks the court, essentially, to throw Madigan off the case and appoint a special assistant attorney general to do the job.

…Adding… I’m told that AG Madigan was on the other side of this issue before Gov. Rauner took office.

…Adding More… From CMS…

Hi Rich,

I saw your post and wanted to flag that during previous Administrations, the AG took the view that the personal assistants are not state workers. Here is some info on background on the case:

Tom L. Tyrrell, CMS Director v. Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General

Tom Tyrrell, in his official capacity as CMS Director, administers the Workers’ Compensation program for state employees in the State of Illinois. The Attorney General is preventing him from denying the workers comp claim of a personal assistant who has acknowledged that she is not a state employee and a Sangamon County court has previously ruled was not a state employee.

Personal Assistants are hired by individuals, not by the State, to provide in-home care. One such Personal Assistant, Stephanie Yencer-Price was allegedly injured while performing services to her employer. She then filed a claim for Workers’ Compensation benefits.

Yencer-Price was one of the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court and where Yencer-Price argued and the Supreme Court decided in the Harris v. Quinn decision on 6/30/14 that Yencer-Price and other personal assistants are not state employees.

On July 18, 2014, an attorney in the Attorney General’s Office, Amy Oxley, sent an email in response to a worker’s compensation claim by another personal assistant that the Attorney General’s Office would dispute all such claims because of the Supreme Court ruling “that indicates that Personal Assistants, like the petitioner, are not employees of the State of Illinois.”

On July 28, 2014, the Workers Compensation Bureau Chief in the Attorney General’s Office, Jill Ottee, sent an emails directing that all attorneys file Motions to Dismiss in each of their personal assistant cases because the Supreme Court had ruled that personal assistants are not state employees.

On August 6, 2014, Assistant Attorney General Amy Oxley filed a motion to dismiss in Yencer-Price’s workers’ compensation case and stated that the Supreme Court had “analyzed the same factors and evidence that the Commission reviewed in past cases involving personal assistants and determined that as a matter of law, personal assistants are employees of the customers and are private employees” (emphasis in brief). She added “the Supreme Court’s legal determination of the employment status of personal assistants is now controlling authority on the issue.”

On January 20, 2015, in a separate subrogation case pending in Sangamon County involving Yencer-Price, Assistant Attorney General Kmett reversed course and said they were withdrawing their motion to dismiss in the workers’ compensation case because they had “determined” that the Supreme Court ruling in Harris does not “apply to whether or not personal assistants were employees for workers’ compensation purposes.”

On April 20, 2015, the Sangamon County Circuit Court rejected the Attorney General’s argument in the subrogation case and found that “there was no employer/employee relationship between the State of Illinois and Ms. Stephanie Yencer-Price on the date of the accident.” The Attorney General did not file an appeal.

CMS directed the Attorney General to assert this defense in Yencer-Price’s pending Workers’ Compensation case or requested if the AG would not assert such a defense, that they allow CMS to retain its own outside counsel. On August 24, 2015, the Assistant Attorney General refused to allow CMS to be separately represented and refused to raise the defense in Yencer-Price’s case.

On November 3, 2015, Assistant Attorney General Oxley sent an e-mail to CMS saying that Yencer-Price’s workers compensation hearing had been requested and further stated that “the Office of the Attorney General will not be raising the defense of no employer/employee relationship at trial.”

CMS, therefore, was compelled to file this lawsuit against the Attorney General seeking to have its own representation so that it can assert this defense that has previously been recognized against this very same personal assistant.

In analyzing this issue, CMS and Director Tyrrell consulted numerous legal sources, all of which clearly support the determination that Personal Assistants are not employees of the State. Among these sources are (1) the United States Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Quinn, in which the Court explained that Illinois Personal Assistants are not state employees for purposes of Workers’ Compensation program; (2) recent decisions from Illinois courts confirming that Personal Assistants are not state employees; (3) the Attorney General’s own successful arguments in prior cases that Personal Assistants are not state employees; and (4) numerous statutory and administrative references confirming the same. The overwhelming weight of authority place beyond doubt the correctness of CMS and Director Tyrrell’s determination.

Pointing to the obvious ethical conflict that would make it impossible for the Attorney General to serve as CMS’s lawyer before the Commission, CMS requested that the Commission appoint separate counsel to represent CMS before the Commission. This is standard practice in cases when the Attorney General has an ethical conflict that makes it impossible for her to render adequate representation to her client. The Attorney General opposed the request to appoint separate counsel for CMS, insisting that the Attorney General be allowed to represent CMS even though she is refusing to defend CMS’s decision to deny benefits to the Personal Assistant.

By filing this lawsuit, Director Tyrrell is asking for nothing more than what appellate courts in Illinois have already agreed is a government official’s right in cases of clear conflicts with the Attorney General. Just earlier this year, the Fifth District appellate court, relying on precedent from the First District court of appeals, concluded that the Comptroller may speak in court through her own counsel in a case where the Attorney General refused to represent the Comptroller’s position. Director Tyrrell is only asking for the ability to articulate to the Commission how and why he reached the conclusion that the Personal Assistant’s claim for Workers’ Compensation benefits should be denied because she is not an employee of the State of Illinois.

What Director Tyrrell cannot do is stand idly by while the Attorney General is misrepresenting his interest in court. That is especially here, where the Attorney General’s position would mean paying out Workers’ Compensation benefits in situations where the State is not the responsible party. Illinois taxpayers cannot afford to spend money the State does not have on claims that the State is not legally obligated to pay.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Meredith Krantz

Deputy Director & Public Information Officer
Illinois Office of Communication and Information
Department of Central Management Services

34 Comments

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